


Get The Crew

by Merfilly



Series: Growing Up Jedi [11]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Relationships, Gen, Open Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 12:44:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8845603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: Mara is not going to sit back and let her Master go get killed without making a fuss. Fortunately, she's got some very competent assistance in a pair of Twi'leks... and assorted others.





	

Getting cleared to go home was easy enough, but as soon as Mara was away from the Temple, she headed toward the mid-level ship platforms, seeking a specific one. It wasn't even that hard to narrow in on the right one, as she heard a vod's voice raised in irritation. She turned onto the platform, going toward the small, battered little scout ship, grinning as she recognized Boil as the one currently cursing a turret mount.

"Since when do you crew for Hera, Uncle Boil?" Mara called, rather than approach and startle him too badly. Boil glanced up, then put his tools down to actually appraise the half-grown woman that his unit called niece. 

"Mara, what brings you down here?" Boil asked.

"Looking for Hera… and if you're here, I'm betting Numa is too." Mara came and clasped his shoulder, getting the answering grip in turn, before he pointed up the open hatchway. 

"On ship, and they'd better actually be doing maintenance instead of each other!" he growled, under no illusions concerning his daughter's relationship with the pilot. Mara had to laugh at his disgruntlement, before going on aboard, feeling a prickle of awareness as she cleared a bulkhead, moments before she found herself with Knight Caleb Dume and her two friends. She had known Numa most of her life, meeting Hera sometime later, but those two were nearly inseparable.

Caleb, she had only gotten to know since her master chose her. Both Caleb and Depa were in communication with Mace on a regular basis, and this wasn't the first time she'd run into Caleb while visiting Hera, but it was something of a crimp on her plans.

"Hera, Numa… Knight Dume," she said pleasantly, even though she had undone her padawan braid, and the lightsaber was carefully tucked away.

Surprisingly, he smirked at her. "Ponds get to you as well?"

Mara's jaw dropped open as she realized that his presence was for the same reason as hers.

"Father asked me to be ready to help both of you," Hera told them both, shaking her head. The nature of the relationship between Cham Syndulla and Ponds was a closely guarded matter of privacy, but no one, not even Mace, denied it was there. Mara felt all the little pieces click together. She looked over at Numa, who half-shrugged, tips of her lekku flicking.

"Where Hera goes, I go. Both my _buir'e_ are coming with us. Do you have any other back-up for us?" Numa asked.

"If you didn't have your dads, I'd suggest swinging by Naboo and finding out if Fives wants to go with us, which would give us Echo as well," Mara said.

Hera tipped her head to one side. "More likely to need demos and gunnery experience to the slicing skill Echo has, so we'll stick with Numa's _buir'e_."

Mara looked at Caleb to see if the Knight was going to have a problem with her presence. He just shrugged, then half-smiled. "My Master's going to be putting her own team together, in case something goes wrong with us. She did say for me to keep it as quiet as possible and only intercede if Master Windu needs it. Having you along might help us know that point better."

"Sounds like Ponds was thorough," Mara said evenly.

"He didn't like the mission at all," Hera said. "Father was pretty explicit about how much Ponds didn't like the mission. Or else I doubt Father would have pointed me at it. He prefers I help with Ryloth issues."

"A resurgence of Sith power and plotting will be Ryloth's problem, if we don't head it off," Caleb said. "Are you ready to go?" he asked Mara. She hefted the single shoulder carry-all she had and nodded. "Alright then, let's go find a Sith and a stubborn Master."

+++

Caleb watched as Mara cleaned a pair of blasters, tipping his head to the side as he noted just how familiar with them she was. "Was it that different, going up with the troops? You handle those better than a lot of Jedi handle their lightsabers."

Mara shrugged a little. "I was using these before a lightsaber, so I guess that makes sense. Didn't you spend a lot of time with them? You're only a few years younger than Mom."

"Yes, but she went to the war before the first year was even over. I didn't until just before her trial, and we didn't stay in the field with Commander Grey much past the Chancellor being declared a traitor. Master Depa was much in demand for negotiating repatriations."

"Ahh. Okay." Mara smiled a little. "The Naboo enclave was more often used for conflicts and protecting relief efforts on the borders with the Independent Systems. Mom and Dad let me go with them once I proved I could follow orders and stay out of trouble, on the lighter stuff. That meant being able to handle blasters, comms, and the smaller demos."

Caleb's eyebrow went up. "How old?"

That got a smirk. "Younger than most of the Republic approves of, that's for certain. But I can honestly say I never was much in danger on those. A hundred uncles or so? No, the only real danger I ever got in was when things popped up on Mom's diplomatic missions." She rolled her eyes. "Funny, how many people held grudges over her part in taking the Chancellor down."

"I hadn't even thought of that angle. She was pretty much in the news through the aftermath of that, wasn't she?"

Mara nodded. "She had been tarnished so badly by the trial, that Master Plo decided it was best to let her be the face of the conspiracy to save the Republic. Even though he and Master Obi-Wan and a few others were the true movement. Mom just happened to have a few extra pieces to the puzzle." She smiled again. "Or so Mom says. Dad says she's full of poodoo when she says that."

Caleb laughed too. "So, back to the blasters. Why are you prepping them?"

"Glad you asked, 'nephew'," she said, a wry twist of her mouth for that teasing noun. By Jedi lineage, he was, no matter that he was sixteen years her senior. "The way I look at it, if we were asked to keep it quiet, having lightsabers flashing around might not be the best way to handle it. So I'm planning to use blasters, if I have to, before I ever draw my lightsaber."

That made the Knight consider, then look toward the cockpit thoughtfully.

"She might have an extra, but I guarantee you Numa does, and you might persuade Waxer to give one up if for some strange reason she doesn't," Mara said.

"How do you know them?" Caleb asked, putting that information in the back of his mind. 

"212th and 501st do a lot of things together, so I met Numa through her _buir'e_. Then I met Hera, because Numa introduced us, on one of the relief missions to Ryloth. I think we were rebuilding a village. She was piloting for the local work crew, that included Numa." Mara liked both women, respected them, as they had been part of Ryloth's militia since forever, it seemed like. "Did you meet them because of Ponds?"

"Sort of? It was a relief mission too, with my Master working with yours, and me along for the ride. I wasn't Knighted yet… but there was something about Hera that grabbed my attention." He looked down to hide the soft smile.

"She's a good woman, Caleb," Mara said. "But she and Numa have been partners a long time."

"I know. We've talked it over," he admitted, not even bothered to be discussing it with Mara, knowing she was raised in the far more liberal and open culture of the Vod'e. "We've got ground rules, and I'm not around all that much, because I do tend to take a lot of Jedi missions."

Mara nodded, then cocked her head to the side. "Didn't I hear you had grabbed a padawan?"

"He's visiting his family on Lothal," Caleb told her. "And yes. Ezra."

"Oh yeah. The cocky one," Mara said.

Caleb had to laugh. "Yeah, the cocky one."

**Author's Note:**

> For the curious, here are the ages:
> 
> Mara 15y  
> (Ezra 17y)  
> Numa 25y  
> Hera 27y  
> Caleb 31y
> 
> All clones are between Caleb and Hera in age, by the calendar, and with the aging caught, few look much older than 45, with a LOT of clones that actually look young/proper age, because in this universe, there were cadets and new batches to take in and raise. Boil does look roughly 40.


End file.
